Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic
inflammatory skin disorder characterized by three or more of the
following features: pruritus, typical exanthema and its
distribution, course of chronic recurrence and atopic
predisposition (1).
Its pathogenesis is still obscure and appears to be complex.
There are both allergic and non-allergic subtypes, and not only
hereditary predispositions but many other factors such as
environmental and mental ones are involved. Most notably,
clinical experience has suggested that the main aggravating
factor (â€˜trigger’) varies among individual patients. Treatments
have been symptomatic, including: topical or systemic use of
steroids or immunosuppressive agents, external application of
emollients, oral administration of antihistamines to solve
pruritus, simultaneous investigation and elimination of
allergens and aggravating factors, and appropriate selection of
therapeutic methods for repair and prevention of functional
disorders of the skin barrier (2,3).
However, in recent years, there has been an increasing number of
patients whose symptoms cannot be alleviated by these
conventional therapeutic modalities alone, and the number of
patients requiring other therapeutic methods have also increased
(4â€“27).

Below the following excellent reviews Part
1 and Part 2 explore Si Wu Xia Feng Yin look out
for the Japanese names Shimotsuto = TCM name Si Wu
Tang and a wind pathogen dispelling formula Japanese name..Shofu-San
= TCM name Xiao Feng San . Basically, the
base formulas used for NaturalPetRx formula Dematopic are
reviewed and explored extensively by Japanese researchers in
Parts 1 and 2, below

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a complex disease of obscure
pathogenesis in Humans and animals. A substantial portion of AD
patients treated with conventional therapy become intractable
after several cycles of recurrence. Over the last 20 years the
authors have developed an alternative approach to treat many of
these patients by diet and Kampo herbal medicine. However, as
their approach is highly individualized and the Kampo formula
sometimes complicated, it is not easy to provide evidence to
establish usefulness of this approach.

In this Review, to demonstrate the effectiveness of the method
of individualized Kampo therapy, results are presented for a
series of patients who had failed with conventional therapy but
were treated after wards in our institution. Based on these
data, they contend that there exist a definite subgroup of AD
patients in whom conventional therapy fails, but the �Diet and
Kampos approach succeeds, to heal.

In the first part of this fantastic
(human) review, they presented case-series where Kampo (Japanese
Herbal Medicine, differing TCM, uses many of the same herbal
formulas)

Herbal Kanpo treatment was introduced for those atopic
dermatitis (AD) patients who had failed with conventional
therapy, in an attempt to prove that there exists a definite
subgroup of AD patients for whom Kampo treatment is effective.
In the second part, they first provide the summary of the
results for 140 AD patients they treated in 2000. The results
suggest that Herbal Kampo treatment is effective for more than
half of AD patients who fail with conventional therapy. In their
Discussion, they examine the evidential basis for conventional
AD therapy and discuss how Kampo treatment should be integrated
into the guidelines for AD therapy. They contend that Herbal
Kampo treatment should be tried before systematic
immunosuppressive agents are considered.